Generation X: Sunshine Lost
by CrazySugarFreakBoy
Summary: Set during the original Lobdell/Bachalo run of the title, Banshee and Synch save the city, but Jubilee pays the price ...


Some background notes for this story.  
  
This is actually the first fan fiction story I ever wrote, back when I was going under the pen name of "Khrys Constantine", after a character from one of my original stories (the starring character of "Commedia Dell'Arte: K.C. & the Sunset Lands", in fact).  
  
I was still attending Syracuse University, and just starting to get involved in rape counseling, as well as rape awareness and prevention activism, when I first became aware of the whole fan fiction scene.  
  
As a result, it's probably no surprise that my first work of fan fiction was about a comic book character undergoing the trauma of sexual assault, since just about everything that I produced back then was an attempt to give voice to the stories of suffering that I was hearing every day.  
  
Like just about everyone else in comics fandom, I went through my "X-Men" phase, so it was inevitable that one of the X-Women would wind up being the victim.  
  
I tried to think of which one would be most traumatized by such an event, and ... well, the result you can read for yourself.  
  
I promise, the rape scene itself is not shown "on camera", but I'd still put the warning flags on this one.  
  
End preface.  
  
________  
  
  
Generation X: Sunshine Lost  
  
By Khrys Constantine, a.k.a. CrazySugarFreakBoy!  
  
________  
  
  
Sean shouted briskly.   
  
"Everett! Quick, lad! Synch yuir aura t'me own!"   
  
Everett threw his instructor a quizzical look.   
  
"Whoa! You want to run that by me again, Cassidy?"   
  
Sean barked impatiently.   
  
"I dinnae have time t'explain, Thomas! Just do as I say!"   
  
________  
  
  
Everett blinked, surveying the room in amazement.   
  
"Banshee, we - we actually stopped the explosion!"   
  
Sean nodded, leaning against the wall in exhaustion.   
  
"Aye. I figured that our combined sonic blasts, released at the exact moment which the bomb's timer was set t'detonate, would shield the surroundin' area from the force o' the blast. Of course, there was a tiny, wee chance that our containment barrier might nae have held, and that the entire city - including us - would have been leveled."   
  
He grinned.   
  
"Now, do ye see why I didnae think it wise t'tell ye me plan?"   
  
Everett chuckled.   
  
"Well, I don't suppose I would have been around for very long to complain about it."   
  
A female voice crackled through the comm-link.   
  
"Sean?"   
  
Sean laughed.   
  
"Emma? Saints preserve us, woman! Everett and meself just accomplished the impossible! Ye should have seen it - "   
  
Emma cut him off.   
  
"Sean, I - I think you should come down here. It's ... important."   
  
Sean's eyes narrowed, and his tone changed to a whisper.   
  
"Emma ... what's wrong, lass?"   
  
Emma's voice choked, then swallowed audibly.   
  
"It's - it's Jubilee. She - it doesn't look good ... "   
  
Sean's face fell.   
  
"I'll be right there."   
  
________  
  
  
Paige was huddled in a blanket, pale and shivering.   
  
" - A-all ah c-could d-do w-was watch, as that m-monster d-did those ... oh God, those awful, awful things to her. And he l-looked at m-me w-with those s-scary r-red eyes, and he k-kept t-tellin' m-me, 'Y-you're next, Guthrie! Y-yah s-see her? This is you! You're next ... '"   
  
Sean struggled to comprehend the unfolding drama as he entered the room. Paige was sobbing hysterically, curled up into fetal position and jumping back nervously from any attempt at physical contact. Monet was perfectly motionless, her gaze fixed and wide-eyed, and yet her lower lip was curled as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Angelo's already distended face was twisted into a seething expression of pure hatred. Jonothon's head was bowed, his resigned, defeated silence contrasting sharply with the blindingly active, bio-nuclear field that radiated from his chest. And Mondo's broad, childish frown and sorrowful, puppy-dog eyes seemed so helpless and out of place on the large, powerful young man. All their attentions were focused on ... what?   
  
Dear God, Sean wondered anxiously, as he urgently forced his way through their ranks, What sight could be so horrible that it would entrance them like -   
  
Then he saw her.   
  
Jubilee's body was laid out on the ground, naked and bruised. Her goofy, neon-hued clothes had been torn off of her frail, innocent form by razor-sharp claws. Her blushing, peachy skin had turned a chalky, blue-ish white. Her sparkling, curious eyes had glazed over, fishlike. Worst of all, Sean glimpsed the bruises - across her chest, on her inner thighs, and around ... oh Good Lord, no. He turned away, struggling to keep his emotions in check.   
  
Emma gripped her shoulders as she crossed her arms, almost as if she was literally trying to hold herself together. The controlled and scientific "White Queen" mask that she usually wore was faltering.   
  
"From - from what I can piece together, Jubilee, Husk, and M were searching for the bomb, when Emplate discovered their presence and captured them. He apparently made some rather ... ugly threats. Promises of violation. Jubilee was the only one he managed to get to, before Skin, Chamber, and Mondo found them. My preliminary exams would indicate that he leeched away her pyro-kinetic energy, and then he - and then he sexually assaulted her, but I'm waiting ... until the full autopsy, just to be sure."   
  
Sean's jaw dropped.   
  
"Autopsy? Houl' on one minute! Ye're nae sayin' that Jubilee is -"   
  
Emma shut her eyes tight. Her words were deliberate, as though she was trying to recite the lines of a play from memory.   
  
"I'm not getting any psionic readings from her. Her mind is a blank. I'm sorry, Sean, but ... there's no other diagnosis. She's gone."   
  
Sean stumbled towards Jubilee, and fell to his knees, dazed, beside her body. He paused for a moment, then cleared his throat decisively.   
  
"Angelo, Jonothon - I need the pair o' ye t'fetch the medical equipment from upstairs."   
  
Angelo glanced up, his mouth snarling in bitter amusement.   
  
"Excuse me, Professore - didn't you hear Senorita Frost? She just told us our chica is dead."   
  
Sean grabbed Angelo by the collar of his uniform and pulled him close, spitting out his words through gritted teeth.   
  
"And I'm tellin' ye now, Espinosa - I think she has enough will t'live that she can pull through. But she cannae do so unless you and Starsmore stop questionin' me and hurry up with those supplies!"   
  
Jonothon gently led Angelo away by the arm, muttering in psi-speech.   
  
"Let's humour the old man, Ange. Irish pro'lly jus' needs some time to wake up."   
  
Sean breathed in sharply as they left.   
  
"Right. Well, we cannae wait for them, so I'm goin' t'have t'administer C.P.R. in the meantime. Everett, son, I'll need ye t'count off for me while I do this."   
  
Everett's hands fumbled as they pressed searchingly against Jubilee's neck, then her wrist.   
  
"Uh, Mister Cassidy, I - I can't seem to find a pulse ... "   
  
Sean clenched his fists.   
  
"Dammit, lad! I just saved a city o' nigh well over a few million people. I'm nae about t'let one poor, wee girl slip through me grasp!"   
  
He glared at Everett's hopeless, plodding countenance.   
  
"Fine, I'll do it meself!"   
  
Emma walked softly towards Sean, and sat down beside him. Her tone was icy and cutting.   
  
"Sean, do you hear the cracking sound that her chest is making?"   
  
"1 ... 2 ... "   
  
"Right now, you're breaking her ribcage."   
  
"3 ... 4 ... "   
  
"Your hands are pumping a corpse."   
  
Sean's eyes were hot with unshed tears.   
  
"5 ... 6 ... "   
  
Emma's even, polished tone began to waver with suppressed grief.   
  
"Paige is severely traumatized and frightened. Angelo's rage is pushing him to the edge of injuring himself or someone else. Even Monet is in a catatonic state of shock. They need someone to offer them emotional support and guidance. They need you to be their leader, to be the adult. But the way you're acting is scaring them. It's scaring me. This is sick. You need to stop."   
  
Sean suddenly straddled Jubilee's chest, and punched her in the jaw.   
  
"WAKE UP!"   
  
Paige cried out anew and embraced Monet, whose frozen lower lip began to quaver. Mondo buried his face in his meaty hands, while Everett simply turned away.   
  
Sean screamed, his volume approaching a sonic howl.   
  
"WAKE UP, DAMN YOU!!!"   
  
Emma winced at each blow that he struck. Paige bawled each time and buried her face in Monet's chest. St. Croix herself found her lower lip trembling and her eyes becoming more moist.   
  
"I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET YE GO! DO YE HEAR ME, GIRL?"   
  
Emma caught Sean's wrist before he could hit again. She stood over him, emanating furious venom and motherly pity at the same time. In her highly conflicted state, all she could manage to do was shake her head - no.   
  
Sean clutched her legs, his wail no longer that of a banshee, but of his own unavenged ghosts, demanding justice.   
  
"I failed her, Emma. I should have done more, I should have taught her better ... "   
  
During Sean's fledgling career as an X-Man, he'd been able to do nothing when his friend and teammate, Thunderbird, was killed. But now - he wasn't some cocky kid fresh out of Danger-Room training. He was older and wiser, a teacher of young mutants. He should have been able to prevent it from happening this time.   
  
Things should have turned out differently this time.   
  
Emma ran her hands soothingly through his hair.   
  
"You did all that you could, Sean."   
  
As she felt the waves of Sean's guilt wash over her, Emma recalled the years of self-recriminations that had followed after the loss of her previous students, the Hellions.   
  
WE did all that we could, she resolved.   
  
A sputtering, raspy cough startled everyone. Jubilation Lee moaned as she blinked against the bright lights, her once-limp form heaving, albeit painfully, with breath.   
  
It was a moment of quiet joy. Paige ecstatically squeezed Monet, and even gave her an affectionate, friendly kiss on the cheek. The usually calm and disdainful Miss St. Croix laughed and broke down into tears all at once, a release of emotions no more surprising to anyone than herself. Everett flashed a relieved, high-beam smile, just before Mondo enveloped him in an enthusiastic, suffocating bear hug. And Angelo and Jono dropped the expensive medical equipment in shock as they walked in, but Emma didn't seem to mind. She was too busy trying - discreetly, of course - to swallow the lump that had inexplicably welled up in her throat. Again.   
  
Sean wrapped Jubilee's shaking, teenaged body up in her bright yellow raincoat, as he cradled her in his arms.   
  
"Ye gave us quite a scare, lass," he chuckled.   
  
Jubilee's eyes were half-closed. She tossed fitfully and weakly, as though in the midst of a nightmare.   
  
"N-no ... " she sniffled, "D-don't h-hurt me a-anymore ... please ... "   
  
Sean whispered to her, the melody of his accent reminiscent of a childhood lullaby.   
  
"Shhhh, Jubilee, it's himself, Sean. Emplate is gone. That hurt and ugliness is over. Ye're safe now - "   
  
Jubilee opened her eyes further, then gasped at the jabbing sensation where ... her flesh been torn.   
  
"Ah-oww! N-no ... ya-you d-don't understand! H-he T-TOOK s-somethin' from me! S-somethin' i-inside ah-of me is MISSING ... a-and it H-HURTS w-where it u-used ta-to be ... "   
  
Her petite frame was wracked with sobs.   
  
The mood had become grave and solemn once more. Despite all the reassuring words that her friends offered her, everyone silently acknowledged that something very special had indeed been taken from their little Jubilee. It was more than just her virginity, or her innocence. Her spark was gone - that cheery, fiery optimism which was the source of her natural fireworks, those that had nothing to do with her mutant power. The core of her womanhood had been ripped from this sweet, loving, young girl by a twisted, hateful, evil beast.   
  
And as Sean carried Jubilee, her head nuzzling fearfully into the protection of his shoulder - whose only purpose, he'd told her, "is t'be cried on by those women I love" - he was forced to ask himself, honestly, if her sunshine light might have been doused forever.  



End file.
